CRUISE FOCUS
MARSEILLE FOS DOUBLES DOWN ON LNG FOR CRUISE VESSELS In a cruise industry first for France, a debut ship-to-ship LNG bunkering operation has set the scene for the new generation of cruise vessels to refuel at Marseille Fos, writes Michele Witthaus Photo: Carnival Corporation
Carnival Corporation and Marseille Fos have worked together with Shell on the LNG refuelling project, which advances the French port's plans to focus on growing demand to bunker new LNG cruise vessels. The Anthony Veder Coral Methane bunker vessel, which is operated in partnership with Shell, successfully refuelled Costa Smeralda on 4 May 2020, establishing its capacity to supply LNG to cruise ships that can use the low-emission fuel. The breakthrough complements a raft of measures being introduced at Marseille Fos to cut air emissions in the port, including investment of €20 million to reach the goal of becoming the Mediterranean's first 100% electric port by 2024. “The Port of Marseille Fos is a member of the SGMF, a working group in which Carnival Corporation also participates,” says Florence Perouas, harbour official - LNG expert at Marseille Fos Port Authority. “The specialised teams from the Port and Carnival Corporation have been working together on these subjects for three years. It was therefore in a climate of mutual trust that we worked together on this operation.”
Photo: Port of Marseille Fos
OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES Despite the existing relationship between the organisations, this was no ordinary operation and brought many new challenges. “The major difficulty was - within the time allocated - to guarantee a maximum level of safety without applying the usual licensing procedures,” explains Ms Perouas. “The level of knowledge, expertise and mastery of the relevant stakeholders has enabled the issuance of an authorisation for a single operation - with the same strict requirements as an agreement. The port was able to analyse the required necessary studies very quickly. It has been attentive to Shell's prerequisites and shared operating procedures enabled to issue an authorisation within very short deadlines.” Following the success of the operation, a second was executed on 15 June.
8 An aerial view of the Port of Marseille Fos
22 | SUMMER 2020
For Carnival Corporation, it was an opportunity to work with Marseille Fos and Shell to ensure that the new LNG facilities and infrastructure at the port were a good fit for Costa Smeralda and other Carnival Corporation brand ships. The Covid-19 crisis added another layer of complexity to an already complex schedule. Tom Strang, senior vice president, maritime affairs, Carnival Corporation, says: “Because of the current situation where our ships are unable to operate as normal, we needed to find a solution where the fuel came to the ship. While Marseilles has an LNG facility, there is no current LNG bunkering vessel located in the port, so we needed to use our existing supplier and their supply chain. “We have been working closely with the port over recent years to develop the necessary processes and procedures, so it was a good exercise to use the basis that we already had to develop in a very short time the ability to carry out the bunkering operation.” For Carnival Corporation, bringing Marseille online for LNG provision adds a useful source of LNG bunkering in the Mediterranean, in addition to the company's other resources in the region. “I am not sure if we will use Marseille as a future LNG hub given our existing commitment to Barcelona,” says Mr Strang. “It does however give us a good option to consider in the future and demonstrates the flexibility of the operation and the intent of the port to get things done.”
8 Costa Cruises' vessel, Costa Smeralda
LNG HUB Several factors make Marseille Fos the ideal location for an LNG hub to serve cruise ships in the region, says Ms Perouas. “With this operation, the port has proven its perfect mastery of the essential security conditions. It was quick to react. Marseille Fos is also a port community whose coordination of actors is excellent. The common response was of high quality: Mooring, piloting, towing, harbour master, the Marseille marine fire department and terminal... all were of great professionalism.
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